Broken blood feather

Kiryon

Member
May 19, 2013
225
Media
1
11
Canada
Parrots
Cockatiels - Oz & Kaila
Hello all! haven't been here in a long while but my pretties have been doing very well!

Sadly, my Kaila broke a blood feather almost 2 days ago, I only noticed today when I picked up the feather I'd noticed at the bottom of the cage yesterday and saw that it's actually a blood feather and not half a tail feather like I'd assumed by it's length.

It's a big tail feather and there is dried blood on the broken part. I never realized since I saw no blood on her or in the cage yesterday. I'm assuming this happened during the little fright my babies had yesterday morning just before I left for school. When I saw it was a blood feather, I took her out, wrapped her in a towel (poor girl didn't like that, she's still very shy about being handled) and had my mother try to find to other part that should still be attached to her but she couldn't find it since it would be pretty small and buried in so many feathers. I worry that it could start bleeding again (it's a big feather too...) if I don't remove it considering how clumsy she can be but I don't like stressing her like that.

Not sure what I should do about this, I know I'd probably have more luck than my mom (who had no idea what she was looking for while I held Kaila in the towel) locating it but she's never handled birds and I worry she may not be gentle enough considering how skittish Kaila can be.

Any tips would be appreciated, thanks.

:yellow1:
 

Kalidasa

Active member
May 8, 2013
1,954
Media
1
2
Michigan
Parrots
1 green cheek conure (Kumar)
2 male budgies (Charlie and Diego)
I wouldn't worry about it, sounds like most if not all of the feather came out. Blood feathers look a bit different than mature feathers when they come out...much thicker and with a thicker base. Sounds like she's in the clear with it. Glad to hear your 2 birds are doing well. Was wondering how everything is going :). God this took so long to type with all these pesky pop-ups.
 

weco

New member
Nov 24, 2010
3,342
12
USA
Parrots
Nanday, suns, parrotlet, Patagonian
For the most part, broken blood feathers are more messy than they are dangerous, unless the blood does not coagulate & stop...also, you really should take another look for the broken shaft, to be sure it's not still in your 'tiel's body.....while a broken blood feather from a healthy bird will coagulate & stop bleeding, the remaining shaft stub should be removed ASAP to prevent further blood loss, in case it gets bumped & starts bleeding again.....

Since broken blood feathers are always a possibility, you may be interested in reading the information at this link:

Cockatiels, Blood Feathers, Broken Blood Feathers,How to Pull a Broken Blood Feather from a Bird, What is a Blood Feather

Good luck.....
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top